New Digital Tools Match Up With Interim Common Core Assessments
A new set of digital assignments in math and English
will be
available this fall that are pegged to interim assessments intended to
help
students meet Common Core State Standards.
The new digital tools from Compass
Learning are designed to
match up with the Interim Assessment Blocks provided by the Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium (SBAC).
SBAC is one of two agencies responsible for providing
assessments of how students in grades 3-8 and all high school
students
are doing with meeting Common Core standards. SBAC provides assessments
for 15
states, one territory and the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The interim assessments are intended to help teachers
check
their students' progress throughout the school year, giving them
information on
how to adjust instruction.
The new digital assignments use video, animation and
interactive features to help students with their math and English
language
skills. They are closely aligned with the interim assessments so that
teachers
can help their students with gaps in their learning revealed by the
tests.
Beginning with the 2015-16 school year, the
assignments will
be added at no charge to Compass Learning's Pathblazer
Hybridge, Compass
Learning
High School and Odyssey
learning acceleration software products.
"Our goal with this new alignment is to help teachers
by
providing another way to take immediate action on the student data they
already
have," said Compass Learning Vice President Eileen Shihadeh, "and thus
enable
them to better shape their students instructional time for maximum
effectiveness."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.